VT...you have some good points, and I can understand why you would believe the biologist...they are supposed to be the authority on the subject. I don' t know a whole lot myself, I can only comment on what I' ve seen over the last 20 years of hunting in both states. As far as the herd in va and wv goes, it' s definitely overpopulated(at least in the areas I live and hunt---eastern panhandle of wv, and northern, north western, north central, and eastern va)....slick heads out the wazoo. The areas in southern, western, and south western va, (where you said you lived and frequented) are alot more in check...I agree with you on that. If you drew an imaginary line from va beach to richmond to winchester....everthing above the line is basically overpopulated big time, and the dnr knows it.

The va game laws allow 4 or 5 deer (depending on where you are hunting) with your regular license....then you can buy " bonus tags" at a cost of $12.50 for 2(antlerless only). You can kill 2 does per day...every day of the season (which is 3 months long in many areas, including archery and m/l) provided you have the tags. In fact...this year they opened the season up to buck or doe every day of the year....and extended the length in many areas as well.

In wv ....it' s not a problem to see 50-75 does in a day sometimes...with maybe a few bucks mixed in. We have been on a self imposed qdm plan on our property for the last 5 years, and the short of it is...we shoot as many does as we can...and only nice bucks. In 5 years on our property (about 1200 ac) things have really improved all around. We are now seeing many more bucks, older bucks, and fewer does as well. The health of the overall herd seems to be improving as well. However, it' s still not uncommon to do a small deer drive and see 50+ does come running by...and only a couple bucks mixed in. For many years in wv the bucks got killed by the bushel load...and no one shot does hardly at all. The wv dnr has increased the doe seasons dramatically over the last 4 years...going from a 3 day season all the way to a 4 week season, and from 1 tag to as many as 5. It seems they too have realized the problem.

Anyhow, I just thought I' d comment on it...not trying to argue whether it' s possible or not.